JACK HUDSON - 1943 - 2022
I cannot talk about Jack Hudson’s life and how he lived it. I never got to know Jack that well and on that personal level. But we shared a love of great music and, as an aspiring songwriter he was always a support and inspiration to me. He once told me “if you have a song to sing, get up there and play!” And he could constructively criticise without putting you down. On another occasion he told me my voice was “a bit thin”, and he wasn’t wrong so I worked on improving it and still do.
Some people sing songs, some sing them beautifully. Jack Hudson sang songs like he meant, and felt, every single word. That was true if the song was one of his own or by a writer that Jack felt wrote songs that were worth singing. Jack sang, and recorded, songs by such luminaries as Tom Paxton, Kris Kristofferson, James
Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot, The Eagles and The Band. And his own writing was masterful. “She Likes to go Walking” is just one, great example of the songwriter’s art.
I was fortunate enough to be a member of The Tom Topping Band and we always had a great relationship with Jack. He would manfully accept that he might be the butt of some jokes, mostly because he was more than capable of holding his own when it came to friendly banter! We met many times on the road when we shared the bill at a folk club, and Jack was a regular guest when we were the resident band at Tom’s folk club at the Black Horse Hotel in West Kirby on Wirral. If six months, or a year, had passed since we met it al- ways felt like we’d seen each other just a few days ago. One particular song, “Geronimo’s Cadillac”, written by Charles John Quarto and Michael Martin Murphey, was performed by Jack in a way that made it instantly a song that you wanted to sing, to the point where the song featured heavily in our repertoire for many years. Even now I can’t hear the chorus “Hey boys, take me back. I want to ride in Geronimo’s Cadillac” without being fondly reminded of Jack.
The audience adored Jack Hudson. It’s an oft used phrase but no less true for that. His stage presence, his powerful expressive voice, his guitar skills and his sense of humour always won them over. Singing along with him felt like the most natural thing in the world to do. Off stage he was always approachable and happy to talk to the punters in an interesting and engaging manner.
I believe that Jack Hudson was born to sing songs and I know for sure that he was a great example of a good man.
Here are the lyrics to a sing I wrote for Jack many years ago and which is my way of expressing what I feel about him. It’s called “One More for the Road” and, obviously, references “Geronimo’s Cadillac”
One More for the Road
Lately, my friend, I have found the memories keep going ‘round
Like the wheels on that Cadillac, hey boys take me back
They’re something precious, something rare, hard to define but worth the care
And I keep them close to me, they’re where I want to be
I need a highway I can dream I’m on
A feeling that’s not here and gone
Take that old guitar and give me one more for the road
There are lines on your face like lines on a road that keeps you hungry, tired and cold
With just your songs to sell, but you wear it all so well
Because you stand up for the truths that you know, riding all the cuts and blows
For the dues that have been paid make you what you are today
I need a highway I can dream I’m on
A feeling that’s not here and gone
Take that old guitar and give me one more for the road
One more for the road, make it fast or make it slow One more for the road, before you have to go
You told me once “Don’t let it die, if there’s a song to sing you have to try
If you’ve got something to say stand up there and play!”
So don’t you ever let me down, be sure and keep on coming ‘round
Like the wheels on that Cadillac, hey boys take me back
I need a highway I can dream I’m on
A feeling that’s not here and gone
Take that old guitar and give me one more for the road